Chapter 18 (Part 1): X is for....
Nick looked down at the list. The first person on it was a band member by the name of Amber Bolivar. He just shrugged and continued down the path past the musician hangout and toward the football field. Chris advised him the band would be practicing during the day. He could see the school colors coming into view as he neared the football field. The gold and silver uniforms upon the crimson red turf the players battled on. He was amazed at the view of the field until he saw the band members. Despite all of the stereotypes he's heard about band members, he was amazed by how beautiful some of the girls on the Gillin band were. He slowly approached them and their instructor. "One and two and three and four and one and two and three.. that's it! Keep up the good work!" The instructor called out. "Amazin work on the sax there, Ms. Bolivar." The sax player smiled and breezed through a solo upon hearing her name called. As she sat down, the people next to her elbowed her and smiled. Nick walked back to the tunnel and waited along the wall leading to the sideline of the field for the band practice to finish. He pulled out him drumsticks as he waited and tapped a simple beat before realizing the person standing over him. "Come on up, kid; I need to talk with you." The person said. He looked up and noticed it was the one he was waiting for. "I heard you're part of the team. I would like to test your abilities a little personally before I can officially accept you into our team. It's simple, to be honest. Steal the X from the music room and you pass the test. There are no security guards and no cameras. It'll be an easy task if you're as good as they say you are. So, you in?" He smirked and nodded. He wasn't sure what he was agreeing to, but it was sounding fun. Maybe he really did a good job joining the team. ---- "Alright, listen, this is something big and you better not screw this up. If you do, you're never goin to be able to come back to the school again. Now, I'm going to tell you exactly what to do and you better not mess it up; I mean it." Amber started, glaring at the student next to her. He rolled his eyes in response. "Yeah, yeah. I need to slip in and take the X--whatever that may be--and bring it back to you. Easy as pie, right?" Nick said as he started to walk away. She stopped him in his tracks. "No; it's be impossible like a mission. This object you're stealing is large, heavy, and filled with keys. You will need to be careful when taking it out. Oh, I almost forgot. The administrator decided to put guards around the perimeter tonight, so you'll need to signal me to create a distraction. Got it?" She said as she looked him in his eyes. "Like I said, easy as pie." He replied, cockily. She sighed and pushed him along until they reached the edge of the pathway to the band room. She turned left as he turned right towards the backdoors. Seeing no guard in either direction, he walked up and opened the door and slipped in. Inside the room, he could see darkness in front of him. As he turned on the light, he could now see the long rows of instruments in their holders. He slowly walked down the first row and up the second when he saw the piano in the corner. He ran to it and tried to push it out the door, but the piano was too large to fit through the door way. He pressed the call button in on the walkie talkie Amber gave him. "Houston, we have a problem. X is too large to take out off the room. We may need to rethink this plan." He spoke into the talkie and there was only crackle on the other end. "Houston, do you read? ...ok, this is seriously not funny. If you don't respond, I'm busting this grand piano out of here." "You idiot! X is for Xylophone! Not Piano! Get the Xylophone and get out of there now! I got the guard's attention!" She answered back after a while. He facepalmed and ran over to the xylophone and whisked it out. He ran with the instrument down the brick pathway and then took the instrument to the designated meeting place and waited. When she didn't show up, he began to grow impatient. He reached for the talkie when she burst into the door; she panted hard. "About time! You really know how to keep a guy waiting. Honestly though, what the hell took you so long to get here?" He asked as he shook his head. She glared at him in response. "You are a really big idiot! Not only did you almost get me caught, you messed up and almost brought the piano and also almost got me caught. You know what you are? You’re an idiotic failure! I hope you get caught in the future… But… It’s good to have you on the team.” She said with a small smile. He smiled back and shoot out his hand and she shook it. That’s one down, two to go.